A Lost Soul in a Dark World

by TasteTheSun

Chapter 17: The End of Something New

All was calm and back to normal, but Equestria will never be the same.

After the outstanding victory against the Children of Tartarus, one mare was not in a happy mood.

Though a majority of Equestria's citizens had forgiven her, as well as celebrated her return after a thousand years, others did not share the same mindset.

Some refused to pardon her for her crimes, and had even requested she'd be stripped of her title as a princess and to be locked in the dungeons for life, though thankfully, all requests for trial by punishment had been rejected.

Despite the refusals, Twilight didn't blame them. She did in fact committed major crimes, most of them being her temporary takeovers of cities and killing possibly hundreds of ponies; ponies with families.

This left her confused. Was it all entirely her fault? She was controlled by a dark force, and it wasn't until the magic of friendship reminded her who she truly was. Plus, her new friends had forgiven her. Was it or was it not her fault.

Wandering through the Canterlot National Cemetery, she stopped in front of a specific grave. She stared at the one on in the middle of two other graves and read the tombstone.

~Longspear~
Son, friend, and a true hero.

Below his name were the dates marking the year he was born to the year he died. The dates were also emblazoned in gold to show the significance of them.

Beside his grave were those of his parents, courtesy of Twilight herself. It had taken a lot of effort, but they managed to move both graves to Canterlot, that way his family could once again be together.

Several feet away from Longspear's family plot, underneath a dead tree was another grave. Standing in front of it, Twilight became upset when she saw whose it was.

It was Maxspell's grave, and on the tombstone, some pony spray-painted a message on it saying:

Maxspell is burning in Tartarus where she belongs!

Twilight turned away from it. The writing on the tombstone made her feel even guiltier.

Only now did she realized it wasn't Maxspell's fault. She couldn't help getting possessed by a demon in search for power.

In the distance, she saw her friends trotting towards her. She quickly wiped the tears away with her magic before they would notice.

"Hey Twilight, how's it hanging," Aurora Flash asked.

"Oh, it's been alright I guess," she replied.

"You don't sound alright. Is there something botherin’ ya hun?" Appleseed asked.

"Yeah, what's with loooooonnng face?" Sweetie Pie asked while stretching out Twilight's face for emphasis, then letting go.

Rubbing her face, Twilight told them what was bothering her.

"I know we went over this, but I still can't stop thinking about what happened."

"That's all in the past now darling, and you shouldn't have to worry about it anymore," Elegance said.

"I know, but I just can't help but feel like this was my fault."

"And how's it yer fault?" Appleseed asked.

"Lots of innocent ponies died because of me, I took over all of Equestria, and I almost killed the princesses! How's it not my fault?" She responded before dropping to the ground with her head down and tears coming out of her eyes. All of her friends surrounded her to provide comfort and support.

"Listen sugar cube, none of it was yer fault, an’ ya know why?" Appleseed asked, to which Twilight shook her head.

"You were under that crazy demon's spell. It was like you were her puppet and she was the master jus pullin’ the strings."

Twilight did take that under consideration. She was right. It wasn't entirely her fault. She remembered this back when she thought about Maxspell and how it wasn't her fault either.

"I agree with Appleseed. You weren't the one who was truly doing all of those awful things," Softheart said.

"Yeah! Besides, you know how that demon was messing with our minds. We knew she wanted us under her control," Aurora added.

Twilight smiled as she slowly got up while wiping away the tears in her eyes. Suddenly, Sweetie Pie gathered them all for a group hug.

"We all forgive you for everything that happened. After all, that's what friends are for!"

Twilight held on to those last few words.

"You guys really are the greatest friends any pony could ask for. Almost like my old friends," Twilight said as she got out of the group hug. Appleseed quickly approached her to prevent any more heartache from her.

"Listen Twi, I know how much you miss your old friends, and don't think of us as replacement's or anything either, but as long as you remember the good times y'all had, their memories will live on, and they will always be with you."

Appleseed’s words of encouragement sunk into her, and she was right.

"Think of us as if you made friends with five more ponies, an’ your jus addin’ us with the others," she said.

"You're right Appleseed. My friends may be gone, but at least they live on in my memories. It's funny though how all of you remind me so much of them. That must explain why we were able to defeat the evil creature!" Twilight said outstandingly.

"Um Twilight, what in Equestria are you even talking about?" Aurora Flash asked.

"Don't you see? You all represent the six friendship virtues, and I was the last piece of the puzzle, and Sweetie did mention she's a descendant of the Pie family, which means you all are descents of my original friends! I cannot believe this! If only I had figured this out sooner, than maybe we would have saved Equestria a whole lot sooner."

All of her friends simply stared at her with forced smiles as they listened to her friend go on and on about friendship and descendants as they all left the cemetery.

•••

Outside of the reconstructed Ponyville National Library, Twilight starred at the significance of it and how much it changed from being just a small oak tree.

At the foot of the stairs was the statue of her, now fully restored to its former glory.

Going inside, she found Spike in the center of the Library. She was surprised that the room was large enough to fit him.

"Hey Spike!" she called out.

"Hey Twilight! Is everything all right?" he asked.

"You can say that. I'm feeling a little bit better now."

"Well that's great to hear," he replied.

Trotting closer to him Twilight noticed something in the middle of the room. Right next to the enormous wooden bust of a horse was a display case. In it was a journal. Twilight recognized it. It was the journal where she and her friends wrote all of their lessons about friendship.

Starring at it, she knew she had to write in it, for old time sakes.

Slowly approaching it, she noticed that the case was locked. Looking around, she saw the librarian sitting at the front desk hidden behind a book. She went towards it and introduced herself.

"Good afternoon. My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle and-"

"Princess Twilight eh? It's been quite some time since I heard from you dear."

That voice. It sounded extremely familiar, yet Twilight couldn't put her hoof on it. When the Librarian lowered his book, Twilight was shocked to see who it was.

"DISCORD!!!"

"Twilight! Long time no see. How's it been?" he asked as he teleported right in front of her while vigorously shaking her hoof.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm the new Librarian of Ponyville! Are you impressed?"

"How long have you been the librarian here?"

"Well let's see. Today is Tuesday, so I'd say, a thousand years."

Twilight was surprised when she found out a guy like him would be the librarian for that long. Then the realization hit her.

"Wait a minute, you've been here for a thousand years correct?" she asked, to which he agreed.

"Ok, so my only question is, where you were when Equestria was under attack by me and all those evil demons?" she furiously asked, only to get a confused look from him.

"Attacked? Demons? What on earth are you talking about? When did this all happen?" he asked.

"About a month ago."

After a few minutes of gathering his thought and memories, he was able to recall his recent actions.

"Oh of course, how could I forget? Well, about a month ago, I went over to the griffon empire to discuss some affairs, while resolving some personal tensions," he said nervously.

"Then finally, I was relaxing at a tropical island getaway for the reminder of the month, and let me tell, you that the service there was quite terrible," he said when suddenly he was wearing a flowery shirt and sunglasses.

"So let me get this straight, you were on VACATION!!!" Twilight shouted.

"Shhh! Hush now Twilight, we're in a Library remember."

"Do you realize how much help you could have been if had stayed here the entire time?"

"You try relaxing while constantly feeling magical imbalances. Besides, by the looks of it, I see you did quite alright without me,” he said while pinching her cheeks.

As much as Twilight wanted to argue, she didn't have the strength to continue.

"Look, let's just forget about it. Can you please open the display case with the journal in it," she asked.

"Oh goodie! I always hoped to get some new material from it!" Discord said cheerfully as he went and unlocked the case.

Twilight took the journal out with her magic and blew the dust off of it, with some landing on Discord.

Grabbing a nearby quill, she sat down and gathered her thoughts together to write a new journal entry once more.

If there's one thing I learned these past few months, I learned that magic could actually depend on whether you want to use it for good or bad. The choice is always yours to make, and if you decide to follow your heart and do what's good, you'll find that with a little friendship, that magic can turn into something greater.

I also learned that no matter what kind of pony they are, whether they're related to each other in any way, you'll always find at least one of the six friendship virtues, as long as you look in the right place. Once you find those virtues, together, you can conquer anything!

Sincerely,

Twilight Sparkle

~The End~

•••

Questions, Comments, Complements,
Any errors are accepted, always room for improvement!
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Comments

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Sequel? And you still left out the status of the Empire. I would love to see Twilight further adjust to jumping a thousand years

[jack spartson]

5773964 same

[LuckyPen296]

That was... BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, the feels!!!!!

[ValNitak Choas]

as I was reading it all I was wonder what happen to discord, I had hope he would show up some how

great story,

[TasteTheSun]

7600172
If you think about it, there is a price to immortality. While you do live forever, you are forced to see all of your loved ones die off, and it be pointless to fall in love again because they too will die and you won't.

[TasteTheSun]

7641099 Most of them were fixed after a brief revision, but there still are some if you read closely

[TasteTheSun]

8090211 Thanks for the comments. I admit I am not a very good writer, and that may be because since I only write during my past time, I don't have time to really put enough creativity in the execution of the story, plus a lack of inspiration and writer's block. I just wrote this story for fun. I appreciate your concerns and have already been working on a revision, but just an FYI, this is just a fanfic, not a major novel of any sorts. I've read worse fanfics, but I still remind myself that it's just a fanfic and I shouldn't overcomplicate it.

Whether you liked my story or not, you judging it just shows that you were still interested in it. I'm going to revise it and I'll take your advice into consideration. Again, it's just a fanfic.

[Raven Flight]

Not a bad concept, but poorly executed. Hidden demons and OP original characters felt very flat, with nothing to connect them to me, major literary shortcuts lost any trace of suspension of disbelief, and the Deus ex machina of a Tartarus Beast at the end made it feel like you wrote yourself into a corner and needed a way out. I finished reading your story because I wanted to give it an honest chance. Sorry, but I didn't like it...

[DarkSnowGaming]

"Listen sugar cube, none of it was yer fault, an’ ya know why?" Appleseed asked, to which Twilight shook her head.

No I agree with Twilight, it is her fault because she COULD HAVE TELEPORTED RIGHT BEFORE SHE WAS UNCONSCIOUS!!! Could have prevented this entire thing from happening if she simply teleported but nooooooo.

Anyways this story was amazing, I would love if there was a sequel maybe going over the aftermath of the story, maybe see what Twilight's life is like with her new friends.

[Kurai_Moon2002]

Would you ever be willing to do a sequel on this book?